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PASTORAL LIFE OP THE ANCIENTS. 223
the country to conduct the flock from the plains to pasture upon
the mountains of Horeb, he was thence called to undertake his
extraordinary mission for the deliverance of his nation. (Exod.
ii. 15—iii. 1.)
The Arabs appear from the earliest times to the present day
to have bestowed no less attention upon sheep than upon
horses. Isaiah also records the excellence of the sheep of Ara-
bia in the following terms addressed by the Almighty to his
people (Ch. Ix. 7) : " All the flocks of Kedar shall Ijc gathered
together unto thee, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto
thee : they shall come up with acceptance on mine altar, and I
will glorify the house of my glory." The habits of the Neba-
taei, or Arabs of Nebaioth, are depicted as follows by Diodorus
Siculus : " They Uve in the open air, and call a land their
country, which is destitute of habitations, and has neither rivers
nor copious fountains, such as could satisfy an army of inva-
ders. Their law forbids them on pain of death either to sow
corn, to plant fruit-trees^ to nse wijte, or to build houses.
They submit to this law, because they think, that those who
enjoy such conveniences may for the sake of them be readily
compelled by the powerful to do what they command. Some
of them rear camels, and others sheep, which they pasture in
the wilderness*."
Various ancient authors mention that extraordinary variety
of sheep among the Arabs, the tail of which giew to so great a
size as to require to be supported on a wooden carriage, which
was dragged after the wearerf.
We have no reason to believe, that tlie Phoenicians employed
themselves in the breeding and pasture of sheep. The narrow
strip of territory, which they occupied at the eastern extremity
of the Mediterranean Sea, was in general too densely peopled
to be adapted for this purpose. Their activity, intelligence,
* Diod. Sic. 1. xix. 94. p. 722. ed. Steph.
Strabo (1. xvi. cap. 4. p. 460. ed. Siebenkees.), speaking apparently of another
division of the Nebattei, says they have large oxen, camels, and white sheep.
t The passagee of ancient authors relating to this variety, with various confir-
mations from modern travellers, are quoted with his usual accuracy by Bochart,
Ilieroz. 1. ii. cap. 45. p. 494-197. Ed. Leusden. Lug. Bat. 1692.